Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust

The Trust is both a charity and a limited company. It was formed in 2006 to help Northampton Borough Council to formulate a plan for the restoration and re-opening of the Abbey to visitors. The role of the Trustees is to manage the Trust according to its Articles of Association.

The Trust is managed by a Board of Trustees who all give their time and expertise on a voluntary basis. The current Board consists of 11 people with varying backgrounds, skills and expertise.

What is the role of The Trust?

There are four key strands to the work of the Trust:
· Interpretation – Helping to design ways to celebrate 900 years of history at Delapré through innovative, memorable and inspirational interpretation.
· Learning – To establish Delapré Abbey as a centre for lifelong learning, providing a range of educational and activity based programmes and supporting resources.
· Community Engagement – To strengthen and develop community engagement, through networking with organisations, businesses, individuals and groups, prompting volunteering opportunities and providing supporting resources
· Sustainability – To effectively promote and market the Abbey, its activities and opportunities for involvement, across Northampton, the County and beyond, ensuring that sufficient monies are raised to secure the long term future of the Abbey.

The Trust helped the Council to secure funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2013 and has subsequently worked with them to finalise the various plans to enable a contractor to be appointed.

During the restoration period the Trust has been working with various partners (the Council, Robert Woodhead, Friends of Delapré Abbey and others) to develop the interpretative, operational and activity plans for the Abbey. This includes a programme of events and talks that will ensure that the public are kept informed about the progress of the restoration.

In addition the Trust is charged with raising funds towards the capital cost of this phase of the restoration project and thereafter to seek further funds towards Phase 2.

Following the completion of the restoration and the opening of the Abbey, the Trust will hold the lease for the site and will operate Delapré Abbey as a historic visitor attraction.